Michigan Wines
Fruit Growth Stage Reference -- Chardonnay
| Wine
Grape - Chardonnay until I get all the pictures you might want to look at Concord |
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| Dormant | No visible indication of growth. | |
| Scale Cracked | Scale Crack (SC), is the first visible indication of growth. A small crack occurs between the hard outermost bud scales as the bud begins to swell. | |
| Early Bud Swell |  |
During First Swell (S-1), the bud has swollen out of the hard outer bud scale and is globular, light brown (doe-colored), and fuzzy. No green or pink is visible as of yet. |
| Late Bud Swell |  |
When Full Swell (S-2) occurs, the bud has elongated (about 1.5 to 2 times as long as wide) one or more bulges of leaf tissue are visible and appear green or pink. The bud remains closed around the growing point. |
| Bud Burst |  |
During the fourth step, Bud Burst (B), the leaves have separated at the tip, usually exposing the growing point. No leaf is, as yet, at a right angle to the growing stem. |
| 1-3" shoots |  |
Expanded Shoot (ES) is the final step and occurs when the stem is 4-6 cm in length with 1-3 small leaves at right angles to the stem. |
| 4-8 " shoots |  |
Shoots are 4 to 8 inches long. |
| 10-16 " shoots |  |
Shoots are more than 8 inches long. Flower Clusters are clearly visible. Many Growers talk about the number of leaves out perpendicular to the shoot. |
| First Bloom | First flowers open. | |
| Bloom |  |
Most of the flowers are open. |
| Buckshot Berries | Berries are the size of buckshot pellets. | |
| Berry touch |  |
The stage when berries in the cluster touch depends a lot on how tight the cluster is for that variety. |
| Green Fruit | Berries are green and hard. | |
| Veraison | Berries soften and change color as they begin to ripen. | |
| Soft Fruit | Berries are soft and ripe colored as sugar content and berry size increase. | |
| Harvest | The grapes are sweet enough to ferment into wine. | |
